AJOB Empirical Bioethics

VOL. 9 No. 3 | November 2018

07/14/2014

Since my last post was about Dr. Oz I thought I may as well post an update:

Benjamin Mazer, a medical student at the University of Rochester has introduced a policy to the Medical Society of the State of New York in an attempt to regulate the kinds of wild claims that Dr. Oz makes on his show. His proposal is to treat health claims made by “celebrity docs” on TV with the same scrutiny as expert testimony given in court, which has guidelines regarding veracity of statements.

It warms my heart to see a medical student fighting for the integrity of our profession, and going through the proper channels to do it. Fundamentally, a profession is self-regulating and so the state medical society is the perfect place to bring this issue. If New York State actually does something to discipline Dr. Oz, then it would be a demonstration of the process actually working. It is telling that a medical student is leading the charge on something like this–the rest of us are likely too jaded or cynical about the system to believe it can function as it should.